Which housing markets are set to beat the norm this year? Ask any economist or real estate analyst and you're likely to get a mix of answers based on rising prices, sales volumes, unemployment, and other forecasts. What Inman News found in its 10 Real Estate Markets to Watch in 2011 piece was a concentration of markets in the Midwest and Northeast. In fact 8 of the top 10 were in the list, signaling an enduring struggle in the South.
Inman asked Onboard to contribute a separate assessment of areas we consider to be hotspots. We focused on three metrics:

Methodology: You'll see charted metrics on each of those on Inman's site. However, each chart uses a different metric to base its top 10 cities on. The percent-change metrics use the left-hand axis, and the volume per population values use the right-hand axis. There is one chart per metric, which show the top 10 cities in each category. The No. 1 market is on the left; the No. 10 market is on the right. The percent-change values are bars and the volume per population is a line. The data comes from public record, including information from county assessors' offices. Our data team then used its internal aggregation methods on that data to help generate results. There are separate sets of charts to represent those markets with at least 50,000 population and those markets with at least 10,000 population.